Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

I'm going to the local Deere dealer's annual consignment auction tomorrow in Bangor PA. I don't want to post the actual website as it is an active Deere dealer and might conflict with sponsors of this site. I was there last year and saw some real bargains on some old Deere tractors. There were well over 1000 pieces of equipment for sale, as it gives everyone in the area a chance to sell off their OPE they no longer want and several of the various local dealers to clean out unwanted equipment also. At one point, there were 3 auctioneers working at the same time, so I had to be carefull to keep track of where the ityems were I was interested in. The food is good, and lots of interesting folks to meet. The weather man is predicting severe rain all day with flood warnings, so there might be a chance for some bargains if the crowd is small. I don't have anything specific in mind that I am looking for, just hope to possibly catch a deal on any attachments for my tractors.

I bid on a Brinly plow set up for the sleeve hitch, and a Deere 214, and Deere 824? walk behind snowblower, some odd tools here and there. Th Brinly plow went for $50, but was well worn, The Deere 214 went for $275 (I had $150 in my pocket  ). The snowblower went for around $400 (too high!) and the tools were not really high on my want list so I would start at $1 and if they went higher, they went to someone else. If I had more money, I would have brought home a 200 series Deere for sure. There were probably 700 items sold off, including restored Farmall Cubs, a Case VC, snowmobiles, wood working tools, like a table saw, and a joiner (that had been in the rain for 2 weeks sitting outside), a couple of trucks, some fencing, pressure washers, pumps, compressors, and more. Anyone in the area can bring their stuff to the site prior to the auction and have it added to the list. The local Deere dealer holds this every year, as it allows him to clean out the abandoned machines he collects at the shop and brings in customers. They had a complete open house and factory reps there with trailers from Stihl, Deere, Exmark and some others. I got to meet some folks from other forums I hang out at. The one real bargain I missed out on was a Haban 6 foot sickle mower attachment for a Deere 400 tractor that sold for $60 in very good condition. With 2 auctioneers going at the same time, it was sometimes hard to keep track of what was being sold where. This was my second year going tothis sale. I think I recently posted here about a Deere dealer relocation auction in Nebraska, so these events happen all around, just have to read the local newspapers and scan the internet. Another decent source of OPE is municiple auctions, where the road dept sells off it's old stuff. For most folks, the local newspaper is probably the best source of info on auctions, or get on some of your local auctioneers' websites to get e-mail notification. Sometimes "John Doe's" estate is being auctioned off and the focus is the 200 year old antiques in the house, so at the bottom of the ad, there will be a casual mention of  "3 mowers"....... could be junk, could be treasure, so sometimes you go just to see what the "3 mowers" are.